Student-athletes and staff members are asked to use discretion
when participating in social networking avenues. For good or for
bad, you are always "on the clock" when it comes to representing
Saint Michael's and your programs.
Student-athletes are representatives of Saint Michael's
College and are in the public eye more so than other students.
Assume anything you post on your personal account could be read by
Saint Michael's staff, teammates, classmates, opposing teams,
recruits, alumni, parents or other family members, media members, a
current employer, future employers or coaches, and even Saint
Michael's Public Safety or the local police.
What is social media?
- Social media connects people in various corners of the world,
helping to build relationships through social interaction using
highly accessible communication techniques
- Examples include Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram,
Tumblr, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flickr, Foursquare and blogs
Best practices
- Remember that the Internet is permanent
- Avoid posting offensive or inappropriate language, pictures,
videos or comments
- Ensure content posted on these sites does not depict
inappropriate or illegal activities
- Don't post anything you wouldn't say in a public forum when
representing Saint Michael's, or anything you wouldn't say to the
media
- Be in the right state of mind when you make a post - don't
post when you're angry, upset, or your judgment is impaired in any
way
- Check your privacy settings. It is recommended that the
strongest security settings be used for Facebook, and that
student-athletes have "protected tweets" on Twitter, wherein only
approved followers will be able to view tweets
- Never post your home address, local address, phone number(s),
birth date or other personal information. You could be a target of
predators. For additional safety measures, it is recommended that
student-athletes do not include their location in Facebook posts
and tweets
- Understand that anything posted online is available to anyone
in the world - any content placed online becomes the property of
the site(s) and is completely out of your control the moment it is
placed online, even if you limit access to your page
- Ensure any information placed on the website(s) does not
violate College, athletic department or student-athlete codes of
conduct
- Do not comment on athlete injuries, rosters, playbooks,
officiating or any other team information that should be kept
confidential
- Student-athletes and members of programs are asked to refrain
from discussing scrimmages on social media, whether in advance of
the event or in regards to the outcome. The NCAA has ruled that the
dissemination of information having to do with scrimmages on social
media can lead to penalties against teams and members of
programs.
- Student-athletes could face discipline and even
dismissal for violations of team, department, College and/or
NCAA policies
(Text courtesy of Lehigh University and
Massachusetts Maritime Academy)
